English

Quantum Interest in (3+1) dimensional Minkowski space

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2009-11-13 v2

Abstract

The so-called "Quantum Inequalities", and the "Quantum Interest Conjecture", use quantum field theory to impose significant restrictions on the temporal distribution of the energy density measured by a time-like observer, potentially preventing the existence of exotic phenomena such as "Alcubierre warp-drives" or "traversable wormholes". Both the quantum inequalities and the quantum interest conjecture can be reduced to statements concerning the existence or non-existence of bound states for a certain one-dimensional quantum mechanical pseudo-Hamiltonian. Using this approach, we shall provide a simple proof of one version of the Quantum Interest Conjecture in (3+1) dimensional Minkowski space.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0808.1931,
  title  = {Quantum Interest in (3+1) dimensional Minkowski space},
  author = {Gabriel Abreu and Matt Visser},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0808.1931},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

V1: 8 pages, revtex4; V2: 10 pages, some technical changes in details of the argument, no change in physics conclusions, this version essentially identical to published version

R2 v1 2026-06-21T11:10:13.855Z